Histories of the Information Economy

Catalog description

This course provides a perspective on the role of information as a historical actor. Moving beyond common narratives of the progress of the information economy driven by technological factors, the course underscores the significance of what may be called the political economies of information. We will approach major works, dealing with the historical importance of information (Foucault, Cohn, Habermas) and simultaneously engages with the history of institutions to store and circulate information. We will emphasize the importance of value (social, political, economic) which is at the heart of information gathering and producing. In particular, we will discuss the rise and fall of institutions to store and circulate information. We will study the importance of information in historical processes such as imperialism and colonization, state building, propaganda, the Enlightenment, as well as the informational aspects of the rise of global NGOs and international organization, police and spying. Information may be accumulated or lost; it can be safeguarded or debased; it can confer power or undermine it. In the age of fake news, these are issues worthy of a closer interest.